As a hijabi, you can be modest and in shape.

Salaam my lovely readers. I hope all is well with you inshallah. I have been on a major fitness kick lately. I don’t know if its the spring weather, or if I am just tired of lazing about, but I am more pumped than ever to try new gym classes, healthy recipes, and get my hijabi fitness on. It looks like the fitness bug is going around because I was talking to one of my husband’s relatives who managed to lose a whopping 35 lbs mashallah! She was sweet enough to say that I inspired her (haha the day before I inhaled a cookie that was 440 calories).

Needless to say that flattering comment got me motivated again to keep at it.

I first starting wearing hijab as a 13 year old. I even went a step further and wore an abaya. While that was great, it was also a critical time that I stopped exercising. Why? It seemed to hard to wear modest clothing and work so why bother? I wish I could go back in time and tell my teen self that yes fitness is important and that you can do it modestly too. The other thing is that since I was wearing looser clothing, it was easy to gain weight and not even notice.

Fast forward almost 20 years later, I still wear modest clothing, but I work out. I wear maternity clothes when I do exercise since it provides me the coverage I need as a hijabi. I also make sure to track what I eat, weigh myself in the morning (sometimes I want to throw my scale out the window), and just make sure to have fun when I exercise. I recently started taking belly dancing classes with only women. If a non coordinated person like me can do it, so can you! I look silly, but I am still trying because our bodies are an entrustment (amanah) from God that we must take care of.

Once you start to work out, the bug will catch on. My mother in law just started working out herself at 51 years of age mashallah. It’s never too late to start! Let me know how you stay motivated to exercise while wearing hijab. Also, what class should I try next?